The Gift
by Mini-Em
Summary: Rachel's upset about her and Finn's breakup and seeks comfort from the one person she trusts the most. One Shot. Rachel's PoV. Please review.


**_Hey everyone! Another Glee story I've written during my break... hope you like it :) takes place after 2x10 =) Rachel's PoV_  
**

The night is cold. The snow is falling. I'm walking along the road which is skirted with snow from yesterday's massive fall that the snow plough has already pushed to the side. I know exactly where I'm going but it's not home.

I stop outside a house. It's not big, but it's nice and cozy. A few trees outside have been decorated with fairy lights, but other than that, no major decorations seem to have been made.

I walk up the path that leads to the house and ring the doorbell and I wait. I hear footsteps on the other side.

"Rachel?" Shelby Corcoran is standing on the other side. My biological mother.

"Can I come in?" I ask and choke to fight the tears.

"Yes, sure" she says.

"I…I didn't know where else to go" I say as an excuse. I didn't want to go home just yet. I would be all alone then, and I don't want to be alone. I want someone to talk to.

"What about your dads?" Shelby asks.

"They're away for the night" I say. Maybe it was stupid to go here, but I don't have anywhere else to go. "I can leave, if you want…" I say

"No, no" Shelby hurries to say "Please, stay. What's on your mind?"

"I just…I needed someone to talk to" I say as a tear slides down my cheek.

"Honey, what's wrong?" She says and wipes the tear away.

"It's Finn" I say and a few more escape my eye.

"Oh my god" This time it's obvious; concern "What happened? Do I need to get someone to kick his ass? I have connections"

I laugh a bit.

"No, it's fine. It's my fault, I suppose" I say. Who am I kidding? It is my fault in every way. Shelby will think so too, so I don't see why I went here, because when she agrees with me, it's just going to make me miserable.

"How so?" She gestured to the sofa.

"Where's the baby?" I ask. I don't remember the name of the girl who is sort of my sister.

"Beth is upstairs, asleep" She says. Beth, right. Beth's a pretty name "Now, tell me what's wrong"

"I think I broke his heart"

"How come?"

"Well, technically, he broke mine first, because he lied to me" I stare out the window.

"About what? Rachel you're being very incoherent at the moment. Why don't you start from the beginning?"

"Well, last year, when I was dating Jesse, Finn was sort of in love with me. We had been together but when I got together with Jesse, Finn got really jealous" I start. I suppose that's where the beginning is. "However, because I was with Jesse, Finn couldn't have me, so he ended up going out with this Latina girl Santana, from our glee club"

"Santana? The cheerleader?"

"Yes. Anyway, apparently they slept together, and then Finn led me to believe he hadn't. I suppose he did it because he thought I had slept with Jesse, but even when I told him I hadn't, he never admitted that he had in fact slept with her" I ramble on.

"Okay, let me just summarize; you didn't sleep with Jesse and Finn only slept with Santana because he thought you had?"

"Correct. And even when I confessed to him that I hadn't, he didn't tell me he had, but continued lying to me"

"So how did you find out?" Shelby asks

"Santana told me and I was ridiculed in front of the whole group" I mumble.

"Oh, honey" She says and moves from the armchair she's sitting in to hold me. It feels very comforting.

"But that's not the worst thing" I say and pull away from her. I can't stop the tears.

"What could possibly be worse than that?"

"I kissed Noah Puckerman…while I technically was with him" I don't look in to her eyes because I'm afraid she'll look at me with despise or worse; she'll yell at me.

However, she does nothing like that. She takes me in her arms again, and I feel like a five-year-old.

"Rachel, dear, that was probably the worst thing you could have done" She says and laughs softly. I fail to see the humor, but she's the only one I have who will listen. "And he found out, I suppose?"

"Yes, I told him" I say with a lump in my throat "And ever since then, he's sort of hated me. I've apologized like a million times but he didn't forgive me"

She pats my head.

"I lost the only good friend I've ever had" I say quietly.

We just sit there, quietly, for a while as she continues to stroke my hair.

"Well, Rachel, I'm not going to insult you by saying that it wasn't your fault" she says "You're smarter than that. I think you know what you did was wrong, and I admit, it was wrong of him to lie to you. However, I too have a confession; I think I'm responsible for this whole mess"

"What?" I ask.

"Please don't hate me, but I was the one who sent Jesse after you, so to speak, so you would get in touch with me. It was selfish, and wrong because I exited your life just as dramatically as I had entered, and I guess I wasn't as ready as I thought" she continues on.

"Wait…you sent Jesse?" I ask. I knew Jesse was a lying bastard, but I never thought Shelby would be behind it all.

"Yes, and I'm so sorry. I never meant to break you and Finn up"

"You didn't" I say "Coach Sylvester did that. She sent Santana and Brittany after Finn to break us up"

"Oh" I think this must be a surprise for her "I'm still sorry for all of that"

"Thanks"

"Rachel, why did you come here?" She asks me.

"Because I've got nowhere else to go" I say again.

"You said that, but why me?"

"Because…" It hurts to say it "Because I don't have any other friends"

The baby starts crying upstairs.

"Can you give me a moment?" Shelby excuses herself and quickly moves to the baby's room.

It's soon quiet and Shelby reappears.

"It's just her dummy" she says and I nod.

"Honey, I'm so sorry" she says and takes my hand "I know how hard it can be, but just stay positive. Focus on what you love, just for now, and I'm sure the whole friend-thing will work itself out"

"I am, and I think you're about five years too late with the parental advice" I say and try to smile "but thank you"

"Rach, I'm sure you have more friends than you think"

"I don't think so, everyone thinks I'm bossy and dominating, annoying and irritating"

"Well, I can't give you much advice on that. Let's face it, you're a mini-me" She says and smiles "but I think you'll do better than me. I think everything will be fine"

"Thanks" I wipe my cheeks. "For everything. For seeing me, and all, I know you really didn't want all of this, which is why you did the dramatic exit out of my life, but I really appreciate it"

"No worries Rachel. At all"

I get up to leave, but her words stop me.

"Can I give you some personal advice?"

"Sure"

"About Finn. Stop apologizing to him, and just let him work through it. If it's meant to be, you will find your way back to each other"

I nod and start walking towards the door again.

"Oh, and one more thing" Shelby gets up from her spot and gets a bag from beside the table and hands it to me.

I look inside. There are eight packages in more or less the same size, but various thickness and wrapped in different kinds of paper.

"I meant to give these to you. I know they are a bit late for Hanukkah, but I wasn't sure when would be a good time"

"Thank you"

"I hope you like it" she says and I leave.

The snowing has stopped but it's quite dark outside. I walk fast home and when I'm there, I go in to the living room and sit down on the floor and spread the gifts around me. I find a card, and the envelope says to open the packages according to size, with the smallest one first.

I unwrap it and, to my great joy, find sheet music. I continue opening the next one, and once its content is revealed, I notice even more sheet music. I unwrap every package only to find sheet music in all of them. In the last one, there is a huge light-blue binder with one golden star on the front, which clearly states "Property of Rachel Berry" in it. The sheet music, to my delight, all fits in the binder she gave me.

I open the card.

'Dear Rachel' the card reads 'I hope you like the gifts. They are a selection of my personal favorites. Okay, I admit it, it's my little personal library of sheet music. I hope you enjoy these as much as I have. Lots of love/ Shelby'

I'm beyond words at this point. My mother has given me a copy of her 'library' (as she calls it) of sheet music. It's the most personal gift I've ever gotten. Sure, I already own some of the songs, but nonetheless I appreciate the gift.

I fall asleep browsing through it, and I have to admit, it's the happiest I've been this week.

_**Please leave a comment, but remember my Golden Rule (can be found in my profile :))**_


End file.
